Tracy Swartz

Writer

Tracy Swartz covers TV and film production in Chicago. She has been a Chicago Tribune entertainment staff reporter since April 2015. Before that, she covered the Chicago Transit Authority and tracked Chicago homicides for RedEye, the Tribune's sister paper. She has a political science degree from the University of Florida and a master's degree in public affairs reporting from the University of Illinois at Springfield.

Recent Articles

Before he took his seat at the WGN-Ch. 9 anchor desk and before he showed off his breakdancing moves on the morning news, Joe Donlon was a familiar face in Chicago. “People stopped me at Wrigley before I even started, just based on the promotions that WGN was running. My daughter and I went to...

A Chicago-area woman discusses what it’s like having a Chicago Outfit hit man for a stepfather on a new episode of the Reelz channel series “I Lived with a Killer.” Harry “The Hook” Aleman, described as “one of the most feared enforcers in organized crime,” is alleged to have committed or participated...

They didn’t win the “Jeopardy All-Star Games,” but Chicagoan Colby Burnett and his teammates earned $100,000 for placing third in the tournament. “I was glad to struggle with two good friends, make new ones, and rekindle that feeling of competition and success. We needed a lot of luck and grit...

Music superstar R. Kelly again got emotional in a new TV interview as he claimed his ex-wife, Andrea Kelly, has made it difficult for him to pay child support. Kelly was jailed Wednesday after failing to pay his ex-wife more than $161,000 in back child support. “How can I pay child support? How?...

Embattled R&B singer R. Kelly angrily denied accusations that he has had sex with underage girls and holds women against their will in his first TV interview since being charged with sexual abuse last month. “I didn’t do this stuff! This is not me! I’m fighting for my (expletive) life!” Kelly told...

Embattled R&B singer R. Kelly denied having sex with underage girls and holding women against their will in his first TV interview since being charged with sexual abuse last month. “I didn’t do this stuff! This is not me! I’m fighting for my (expletive) life!” Kelly told Gayle King Tuesday in Chicago....

Luke Perry, who died Monday at 52 after suffering a stroke, first found fame on “Beverly Hills, 90210” in the 1990s as the restless and moody Dylan McKay. Perry made his mark on a generation of fans who followed him from teen dreamboat to the rough, crime-ridden world of HBO’s “Oz” to the beguilingly...

Jay Cutler made tens of millions of dollars as quarterback for the Bears, Denver Broncos and Miami Dolphins, but on Sunday’s episode of “Very Cavallari” he asks his wife for an allowance so he can buy a tracking device for one of their chickens. “Since you guys are kind of blowing up now, I was...